Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

George W. Liebmann has prepared a collective portrait of five scholars who epitomize the common law tradition. The focus is Chicago in the 1960s, when the “law and economics” movement occupied a rather minor place. The five figures considered – Edward H. Levi, Harry Kalven, Jr., Karl Llewellyn, Philip Kurland, and Kenneth Culp Davis – did much to broaden the perspectives of the legal academy. Levi made use of sociology, economics, and comparative law. Kalven collaborated with sociologists on the Jury Project and with economists on tax law and auto compensation plans. Llewellyn’s commitment to empirical research underpinned his work on the Uniform Commercial Code. Kurland’s approach to constitutional law was highlighted by his insistence on the relevance of legal history. Davis was an energetic comparativist in his work on administrative law.

What distinguished these Chicagoans is that their work was practical and rooted in the law, and hence yielded concrete applications. The group’s diversity, the tolerant atmosphere in which they taught and wrote, and the attachment of its individual members to empirical approaches differentiate them from today’s legal scholars and make their ideas of continuing importance. The Common Law Tradition examines these figures’ lives and achievements, and assesses the extent to which their immediate agendas were realized.

George Liebmann's skillful blending of biography and legal history makes his Common Law Tradition a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand the development of American law in the twentieth century. His analysis of the values that animated his five protagonists also prompts reflection on the qualities of mind and character that are needed to sustain the rule of law in a democratic republic.
– Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University